In love in the world - 10. If You See Something, Say Something

Contributors

Chloé, Christophe

Key points of previous chapter

• Gaps between thoughts allow us to glimpse the naked mind, not obscured by perceptions and or memory
• Gap = bardo
• “Emotions themselves are not the problem. It’s how we relate to them.”
• Dukkha = suffering, the mental disturbances arising when we substitute reality as-it-is for what we wish it to be

Summary of this chapter

This is a short and profound chapter.  It addresses two points from an experiential point of view:

• impermanence,
• the sense of self.

The chapter starts by reminding us that “we embody moment by moment physical changes, traverse various realms of affliction each day, and live through continuous, never-ending changes in our daily lives.”  We also notice changes in our states of mind.  From waking up to going to sleep, our minds can go from joy to sadness, going through aversion, jealousy, judgments, hope, irritation,…

Despite the fact that change is pervasive in out lives, we often do not know how to “put it into service for the enrichment of our lives and others.”  Often, we resist change.  This “puts us at odd with reality, and this creates never-ceasing dissatisfaction.”  This resistance comes from the fact that our minds are bound with phenomena, we are too tight.  We are attached to how things should be, to situations, roles and concepts that we use to define ourselves.  As Mingyur Rinpoche says, our identities take up residence in out body often more subtly and more deeply than we imagine.  Our strong reactions to situations point to the fact that we misperceive ourselves.  That makes us easy targets.  “The more rigid our sense of self, the more surface we provide for the arrow to hit.”

 

What’s the solution?  To understand our situation, we have to examine it.  That’s why awareness is important.  That’s how we see how our beliefs color our perceptions.  That’s how we see that what we call “self” is solely a designation of a compound of interrelated parts, that it is a concept recreated moment to moment that points to no ever-lasting reality.  And in gaps (or bardos), when all conceptual commentary is stopped, we can start to get in touch with our primordial nature, with a “mind beyond words, beyond concepts.”

Videos:

• Ego (Thich Nhat Hanh) - YouTube
• Healthy Sense of Self - YouTube

Questions

• How might meditation and a healthy sense of self work together to make us happier?
• How do you understand “the more rigid our sense of self, the more surface we provide for the arrows to hit”?  How can we loosen that rigid send of self?

Meditations

Impermanence and the Sense of Self